[Taiwan Diving · Dylan Chen Column] 4 Courses You Must Know Before Becoming a Dive Instructor

Before class begins, you'll need an Instructor Development Course guide!

I'll never forget the first day I walked into my dive instructor class. The moment I received the syllabus, it looked as dense and complex as calculus. I couldn't imagine how it was possible to complete so many items in just a few days — let alone understand and apply them all to future dive instruction. Time never seemed to be enough. Between preparing my own teaching demonstrations and absorbing each day's new material, it was an enormous challenge for me at the time.

I've been a PADI (certification agency) dive instructor for over 15 years now, and I still remember the pressure I felt while preparing for the instructor course. I've since dedicated myself to refining the way I teach it — finding the most effective methods to help candidates understand the exam process and build the confidence they need to become great dive instructors ready to face future challenges. All of that requires careful planning and design.

"The Instructor Development Course will show you a side of yourself you've never seen before."

It will feel incredibly demanding at first — the curriculum is wide-ranging and diverse. But with systematic training, candidates of all backgrounds can learn and grow at the pace that suits them best.

Instructor Development Course Guide

The Instructor Development Course is divided into four main phases: the Preparatory Course, the Standard Course, the Teaching Practicum, and the Practical Skills Course.

The Preparatory Course gives instructor candidates time to absorb and consolidate what they've already learned. A supportive learning environment and an experienced Course Director help them grow in a structured way. The Teaching Practicum allows each instructor to express their own teaching style. Beyond the development course itself, ongoing growth and mentorship are equally important.

Preparatory Course

Before class officially begins, candidates review relevant course material. Key areas include: online instructor course learning, reinforcement of five core theory topics, how to use the instructor manual, Divemaster (PADI cert) scuba skills demonstrations, and a review of rescue techniques. These exercises help you hit the ground running when the formal instructor course starts — reducing time spent fumbling and maximising learning outcomes. A good course should begin the moment you decide to enroll.

Standard Instructor Course

The Standard Instructor Course is designed to help you understand the subjects instructors teach and the direction the industry is heading. It covers three main areas for systematic learning:

1. Introduction to the PADI (certification agency) System — Understanding PADI (certification agency)'s teaching systems, standards, and procedures, giving you a clear picture of the overall PADI (certification agency) framework.

2. Career Development and the Future of the Industry — From first contact with diving, to keeping divers engaged, to growing awareness of scuba diving, to becoming a part of the dive industry yourself — and most importantly, risk management.

3. Course Curriculum Overview — The courses an instructor can conduct: Open Water Diver (PADI/SSI cert), Adventure Diver, Rescue Diver (PADI cert), and Divemaster (PADI cert). You'll gain a much clearer understanding of the key teaching objectives for each.

Teaching Practicum

The second phase of the instructor course places candidates in the teaching role. Its primary purpose is to develop teaching experience and assess whether candidates meet PADI (certification agency)'s requirements. Of course, these are also the actual exam components — so it's essential that you understand the key points of every item.

1. Knowledge Development Teaching — Simply put, you prepare a presentation of roughly 10 minutes on a focused topic, scored according to PADI (certification agency)'s evaluation criteria. That said, I encourage candidates to express their own style — to leave classmates and evaluators with one clear, memorable takeaway, rather than merely ticking the boxes on a rubric.

2. Confined Water Teaching — You plan and deliver a pool lesson. Through training, you'll learn to break down any skill into its component steps and critical points, explain the procedure verbally so students understand how to perform it, and eventually document your teaching in a written format that becomes a repeatable standard. This standard applies across all teaching methods: behavioral objectives, skill value, process explanation, unified signals and commands, and student and site arrangement. This training had a profound impact on me personally.

3. Conducting Open Water Training Dives — There's a lot to manage during actual ocean dives: arranging assistant instructors, establishing underwater communication protocols, controlling group formation, and staying aware of the marine environment. Combining students at different levels within a single session adds another layer of complexity. The ocean also introduces many variables — visibility, current, surge, and bottom composition — all of which must be factored into your teaching plan. This phase will completely change the way you think about group management.

Practical Skills Course

This phase helps instructor candidates get up to speed with industry-relevant skills as quickly as possible. Topics may include: underwater photography, equipment repair specialties, introduction to BAUER air compressors, résumé workshop, dive brands, and social media management. The goal is to give candidates a competitive edge as they enter the dive industry. More business-focused modules may be added in the future — sales skills, communication, presentation design — anything that helps you become a better instructor is something I'll do my best to arrange and explore.

Being a professional means finding a way to make things instantly clear.

Before every class, I still find myself tweaking the curriculum, always looking for better ways to help candidates make sense of the instructor course as a whole. The content is genuinely complex, the number of teaching demonstrations is high, and every unit brings a brand-new challenge. It's completely normal to feel lost at the start. If candidates can get a clear picture of the overall structure beforehand, preparation becomes a little less daunting. The Instructor Development Course is like a box of LEGO — you have to read the instructions first, or you won't know where to begin. You might make mistakes, or waste a lot of unnecessary time. But as long as you're willing to follow the steps one by one, even the most complex build can be completed smoothly.

Give yourself plenty of time to prepare and make sure you've covered everything you need before becoming an instructor. The formal course is an intensive one-month program — but in truth, it begins the moment you decide to sign up. And passing the instructor exam isn't the finish line. It's the starting point of your journey toward becoming the instructor you've always envisioned. I believe that journey never truly ends.

4 Courses You Must Know Before Becoming a Dive Instructor

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